Fresno Charter School Planned
by Marc Benjamin
June 19, 2009
Big Picture High School - Fresno will target underclassmen.
A nationally recognized charter-school company plans to open a school in Fresno this fall and target ninth- and tenth-grade students in central, southeast and southwest Fresno. A recommendation by the Fresno County Office of Education also could expand Big Picture High School Fresno’s curriculum to seventh and eighth graders, said Larry Powell, Fresno County Office of Education superintendent.
The Fresno County Office of Education is the authorizing agency for the Big Picture school. The county office authorized the school in March after Fresno Unified School District denied authorization last year. The school does not yet have a site but will within a few weeks, said Gerry Catanzarite, Big Picture’s principal in Fresno.
The school includes project-based learning and a curriculum in which students get “real-world” experience. “We talk to a kid, meet his family, get to know them, find out his interests and develop a program around his interests,” Catanzarite said.
The school will have space for as many as 175 students or as few as 75 to 80, he said. Big Picture Schools operates more than 60 schools in 14 states.
“They have such a good reputation nationally, and the national group is very supportive of the local group,” Powell said. Catanzarite said school officials have been asked to admit seventh and eighth graders after the closure of the KIPP Charter School in Fresno.
Fresno Unified did not renew KIPP Academy’s charter last month, which left about 200 parents seeking new schools for their children.
In December, Fresno Unified School District’s board denied Big Picture Schools a charter. The district’s charter review team criticized Big Picture for having a “vague” instructional program unlikely to be of educational benefit to at-risk students, students learning English and special education students.
Big Picture appealed to Fresno County Office of Education, which supported the charter for ninth and tenth grades and is expected to expand it to seventh and eighth grades during a board of education meeting today. Powell said Big Picture has a positive track record.
“They have tremendous support from Fresno State and Fresno Pacific, and they have a national organization with a good reputation,” he said. “I have known Gerry [Catanzarite] for a long time, and they have surrounded themselves with good people. I think they have a good team.”